W.Va. Sets Email for Reporting Invasive Species

West Virginia's Department of Agriculture has established an email where the state's residents can send pictures and descriptions of a suspected invasive pest, as well as their locations and any related damage to buildings or plants.

Department officials say landowners who email information to bugbusters@wvda.us will be notified if their tip raises concerns and someone from the agency will visit the site.

Agriculture authorities note two destructive insects, the Asian longhorned beetle and the spotted lanternfly, are on the watch list for invasive species in West Virginia.

The beetle was first found in Brooklyn in 1996 and has since been detected in several locations including Clermont County, Ohio.

The lanternfly was first discovered in Berks County, Pennsylvania in 2014, and detected in Delaware in November.

The West Virginia Department of Agriculture is asking residents to watch for the appearance of the spotted lanternfly, a destructive insect whose presence was confirmed last week in New Castle County, Delaware.

It was first detected in the U.S. in 2014 in Pennsylvania, where it has since been found in 13 counties.